Day for Night Lineup Announced

After last year’s festival, which was the first, it seemed almost impossible to top the inaugural lineup which included names like New Order, who hadn’t performed in the city for twenty years, or Death Grips who are notorious flakes when it comes to highly anticipated appearances. However, the guys at Day for Night have managed to deliver what is shaping up to be the party of the year… again.

Yesterday, there was a teaser trailer released by Day for Night which hinted at the major headliner of this years festival, the man, the myth, the legend, Richard James, better known as Aphex Twin, or simply AFX. One of the most important minds in ambient electronica will be performing for the first time in the State in eight years, and his first time in Houston in over twenty years. Other huge names include Travis Scott, the Missouri City MC who currently has the number one album in America, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, it will definitely be exciting what he brings to his first hometown festival appearance. Bjork will have several digital art installations at the festival, and will have a DJ set at the pre-festival VIP party on Friday the 16th of December. The festival will also witness the reconvening of Houston hip-hop’s greatest minds with the “Welcome to Houston” crew comprised of H-Town heavy hitters such as Bun B, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, and more.

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Other names include ODESZA, Kaskade, Run the Jewels, Chet Faker (who is now known by his birth name, Nick Murphy), Banks, Butthole Surfers (“Dracula from Houston” best be on their set list), Blood Orange, Little Dragon, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Squarepusher, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington (I want to hear The Epic live, all three hours of it), Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Washed Out, Ariel Pink, Lower Dens, Clams Casino, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, SOPHIE, Tobacco, and Soulection. Local artists Fat Tony, Kult Dizney, the Wild Moccasins, and more will also be performing at the festival in front of a hometown crowd.

Last year, the festival wowed it’s patrons by including massive digital art installations that redefined what it meant to be a “music and arts festival,” and this year looks no different with the return of Nonotek, the favorite of my artists from last year, as well as United Visual Artists, Golan Levin, and Shoplifters.

Day for Night got off to the best possible start this year, and it seems like they aren’t letting any of that momentum go to waste. This year’s lineup is easily more diverse than last year’s, which leaned heavily on chilled out electronica and avante garde aesthetics, whereas this year appeals to those same sentiments but in more subtle doses. I expected a SOPHIE and a Tobacco on this lineup because they fit so neatly into the framework of this festival, but acts like Chet Faker, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Ariel Pink really shatter that mold and make you re-define what you thought Day for Night was/is going to be. In only it’s second year, Day for Night is making a name for itself, people from around the country will descend upon the Bayou City a week before Christmas, and three months before the Super Bowl, to be a part of what is sure to be the city’s biggest party of 2016.